UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, has begun construction
in Hawaii of a biofuels demonstration unit that will convert
forest residuals, algae and other cellulosic biomass into green
transportation fuels.

Backed by a $25 million Department of Energy (DOE) award, the
Honeywell UOP Integrated Biorefinery will upgrade biomass into
high-quality renewable gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The project
is part of the DOE’s efforts to help spur the creation of the
domestic biofuel industry, drive domestic job creation and reduce
dependence on foreign oil. The project will also support the
Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative goal to achieve 70 percent clean
energy by the year 2030.

Located at the Tesoro Corp. refinery in Kapolei, the Integrated
Biorefinery will be used to demonstrate viability of the technology,
test the fuels produced and evaluate the environmental footprint
of the fuels and the process technology. The project, which will
generate more than 80 new jobs during construction, is scheduled
to begin initial production in 2012. It is expected to be fully
operational by 2014.

Once successfully proven in this demonstration unit, a commercial-scale
facility using the same technology could produce as much as 50
million gallons of drop-in green transportation fuels per year,
and could create as many as 800 new construction jobs and 1,000
new jobs in biomass production and refinery operations.

The demonstration unit will utilize the RTP® rapid thermal processing
technology to rapidly convert biomass into a pourable, liquid
biofuel. This liquid biofuel will then be upgraded to green transportation
fuels using hydroprocessing technology from Honeywell’s UOP.

Honeywell’s UOP offers technologies that convert natural oils
and plant biomass to fuels. Since launching its efforts in renewable
energy and chemicals in 2007, the company has commercialized
the UOP/Eni Ecofining™ technology for the production of Honeywell
Green Diesel™ and the UOP Renewable Jet process for the production
of Honeywell Green Jet Fuel™.

In 2008, UOP partnered with Ensyn Corp. to form a joint venture
business, Envergent Technologies LLC, to offer RTP technology
and equipment.